What are the different kinds of orchestra?

Be an excellent sight reader At the higher-level amateur and professional orchestra levels, a musician should be a confident sight reader - able to play a new piece accurately - using personal practice time to focus on expressive elements of the piece.

The National School Orchestra Award® is the counterpart to the Sousa Band Award® and the highest honor you can bestow upon a member of the high school orchestra to recognize excellence in playing and contributions to the ensemble.

The LSO is consistently ranked as one of the world's leading orchestras.

Baroque orchestras had from 10 to 30 players, primarily strings. In the Baroque orchestra, the strings and winds played the same sort of music melodically and rhythmically. The woodwind and brass were used as melodic instruments but later they were mainly used to sustain the harmony.

Orchestra Section Considered the best tickets in the house, these seats are on the main level of the theatre and offer the closest seating to the stage. The Orchestra is usually divided into 3 sections with a left and right aisle (though this can vary from theatre to theatre).

220 symphony orchestras

Concertmaster

A full-size Western orchestra may sometimes be called a symphony orchestra or philharmonic orchestra (from Greek phil-, "loving", and "harmony"). ... A chamber orchestra (sometimes concert orchestra) is a smaller ensemble of not more than about fifty musicians.

Anything that makes you feel comfortable is fine. Most people will be wearing business clothes or slightly dressy casual clothes, but you'll see everything from khakis to cocktail dresses. Some people enjoy dressing up and making a special night of it. If you do decide to dress up, though, go easy on the cologne.

Roy Thomson Hall

Woodwind family

Nowadays, the literature for saxophone in symphony orchestra is limited either to composers who wrote jazz-influenced pieces like Gershwin or rare composers like Ravel who simply wanted to hear a saxophone. ... Adolphe Sax's saxophones were constructed differently from instruments made by his contemporaries.

Music directors are experienced conductors who shape their orchestra's musical identity by selecting the performance repertoire for the season, molding the musical performances in rehearsal, hiring new players, commissioning new pieces from composers, soliciting guest conductors, and organizing ongoing community ...

Orchestras always tune to 'A', because every string instrument has an 'A' string. The standard pitch is A=440 Hertz (440 vibrations per second). Some orchestras favor a slightly higher pitch, like A=442 or higher, which some believe results in a brighter sound.

That responsibility alone makes the Conductor/Music Director the most important person in any orchestra.

During the Romantic period (ca. 1800-1910), string sections were significantly enlarged to produce a louder, fuller string sound that could match the loudness of the large brass sections used in orchestral music from this period. During the modern era, some composers requested smaller string sections.

Q: What is the difference between an orchestra and a concert band? A: The most obvious difference between the ensembles is the instruments that call the ensemble home. Violins, violas, cellos and basses make up the majority of an orchestra, while a concert band is made up of woodwind, brass and percussion instruments.

An orchestra pit is the area in a theater (usually located in a lowered area in front of the stage) in which musicians perform. Orchestral pits are utilized in forms of theatre that require music (such as opera and ballet) or in cases when incidental music is required.

Students wishing to become a music conductor for a symphony orchestra typically need to have a master's degree. Master's degree programs in conducting are commonly offered as Master of Music (MM) degrees and may allow students to focus on a specific area, such as choral, wind, or orchestral conducting.

8 Instruments Rarely Used In OrchestraHarp – Although the harp is one of the most common instruments in the history of music, it is not always used in most classical compositions. ... Glass Armonica – ... Saxophone – ... Wagner Tuba – ... Alto Flute – ... Sarrusophone – ... Theremin – ... Organ –

The piano is important in a symphony orchestra for those pieces that include it. But it is not part of traditional orchestration and many composers never included a piano part in their symphonies and other orchestral works, so in that sense it's a less important orchestral instrument overall.

Orchestras always tune to 'A', because every string instrument has an 'A' string. The standard pitch is A=440 Hertz (440 vibrations per second). ... This is because most of the band instruments are actually pitched in B flat, and so this is their natural tuning note.

Romantic Orchestra (1815-1910) Romantic orchestras had as many as 100 players or more, and featuredgreater use of brass and piano.

Two basic orchestras exist—chamber orchestras (small!) and symphony orchestras (big!). Chamber orchestras employ about 50 or fewer musicians (who may all play strings).